It’s an age since I last saw it, but in my memory quite a lot of Withnail and I takes place in bars or otherwise imbibing.
However, I think the reason it merits a passing mention here is because so much time is spent on the pop that the film has developed it’s own drinking game. Watch out for the lighter fluid.
To which I suppose I should add: I demand to have some booze!.
j
Good answers, all!
– How could I have forgotten the Cornetto Trilogy! First time I saw Hot Fuzz, I thought Simon Pegg’s character was really asking for it. In villages like the one in that film, there are two institutions one does not mess with: the church and the pub.
– St. Elmo’s Fire doesn’t quite work for my purposes; I get the impression those people would have been friends without the bar, or would have hung out somewhere else. **Goodfellas **doesn’t quite count either, because there were a lot of different bars/clubs, not one primary hangout. Withnail and I is more about drinking wherever and whenever, not necessarily in pubs. Running Scared – not quite. The final conflict doesn’t take place in a bar, for instance.
– Good call on The Iceman Cometh.
– Coyote Ugly, Roadhouse, Urban Cowboy and Casablanca are closer to what I’m looking for. Heck, Urban Cowboy had a wedding at Gilley’s! (That must have cost a chunk, in-universe.)
– Haven’t seen any of the others, but I appreciate the suggestions!
To be fair, **Goodfellas **spent a decent chunk of time *behind *bars.
Albino Alligator is set - I think - entirely in a bar.
It’s a good movie but Kevin Spacey directed it so if you’re all boycotty, never mind.
The Time of Your Life (1948), starring James Cagney and based on the William Saroyan play, was set entirely in a San Francisco bar.
Only part of the film takes place in the title establishment, but I recommend The Blue Iguana (1988) anyway, just for being a nifty little neo-noir heist flick.
Well, yes - another bar! That’s what they do at the end, after all.
They hung out at St Elmo’s because it was their college hangout, that was part of the point of the film, how they hadn’t really moved on.
I haven’t seen this since it was in the theaters. St. Elmo’s is also a fraternity. This took place at Georgetown, which at the time had no frats, but this movie version had them. The only bar I recall them mentioning was Houlihan’s, or possibly Chadwick’s.
How about The Night They Raided Minsky’s? Or Cabaret? Looking for Mr. Goodbar? Cruising?
The Coca Cola Kid, An American Werewolf in London, Trainspotting, The Commitments and The Boys and Girl from County Clare all had extended pub scenes.
*The Crying Game *and All Creatures Great and Small. Possibly Waking Ned Devine.
To clarify, St. Elmo’s Hall is an alternate name for the Delta Phi fraternity. It never occurred to me that the movie was referring to anything else.
Never On Sunday was heavily, if not mostly, in a bar.
Houlihans’ is the bar they mention switching to at the end, as not being a kid hangout. St. Elmo’s Bar is definitely the name of the one they a) hang out at b) one of them works at.
Perhaps Factotum?
Some other excellent films with great bar scenes without being necessarily bar movies would be In Bruges, Beautiful Girls, The Bargee, The Friends of Eddie Coyle (all of Peter Boyle’s and Mitchum’s scenes together are great), The Verdict (raw egg with your beer, anyone!?) Nobody’s Fool, Good Will Hunting.
AND Star Wars. Mustn’t forget that scene in Star Wars.